Four intelligence officials said the early morning strikes hit the compounds of the Punjabi Taliban and a group of Uzbek militants in the Shawal area of North Waziristan.

Two missiles struck the compound of the Punjabi Taliban in the village of Kund, killing four militants, the officials said. They said the compound was being used as a training facility by the group’s commander, Qari Imran, but it was unclear whether Imran himself was present at the time of attack. The officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

Minutes later, another drone-launched missile struck the compound of a group of Uzbek militants in the village of Mangrotai, killing three alleged militants, the officials said.

Drone strikes are largely unpopular in Pakistan where many consider them a violation of the country’s sovereignty and resent the collateral damage caused to Pakistani civilians. But the U.S. insists these attacks are effective to eliminate militants in areas inaccessible to the Pakistani military.

Meanwhile, a top government official in the Khyber tribal region said security forces have killed the alleged planner of the recent school attack in the city of Peshawar. Security troops, acting on intelligence information, conducted a raid in the Bara area late Thursday night, where they fought a gun battle with the militant commander known as Saddam and his accomplices, said Shahab Ali Shah, head of police administration in Khyber.

Shah said that Saddam was killed in the hour-long shootout, while his six accomplices were injured and arrested. He said Saddam helped plan the Peshawar school attack and was also involved in attacks on health workers giving polio vaccinations in the Peshawar valley.

On December 16, militants strapped with explosives broke into a military-run school in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and killed 148 people — most of them children.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — The Taliban massacre that killed 148 people, mostly children, at a military-run school in northwestern Pakistan left a scene of heart-wrenching devastation, pools of blood and young lives snuffed out as the nation mourned and mass funerals for the victims got underway Wednesday.

AFP PHOTO / FAROOQ NAEEMA Pakistani army soldier shows a burnt room to media at an army-run school a day after an attack by Taliban militants in Peshawar on December 17, 2014.

The attack at the Army Public School and College in the city of Peshawar on Tuesday was the deadliest slaughter of innocents in the country and horrified a nation already weary of unending terrorist assaults.

Blood was still splattered on the floor and the stairs as media were allowed inside the school a day after the attack. Torn notebooks, pieces of clothing and children’s shoes were scattered about amid broken window glass, door frames and upturned chairs. A pair of child’s eyeglasses lay broken on the ground.

Prayer vigils were held across Pakistan and in other schools, students spoke of their shock at the brutal slayings in Peshawar, where children and teenagers were gunned down and some of the female teachers burned alive. Army commandos fought the Taliban in a day-long battle until the school was cleared and all the attackers were dead.

The attack began when seven Taliban gunmen, explosives strapped to their bodies, scaled a back wall using a ladder to get into the school on Tuesday morning. Once inside, they made their way into the main auditorium where many students had gathered for an event, military spokesman Maj. Gen. Asim Bajwa told reporters during the tour Wednesday.

The militants then made their way to the hall’s stage and started shooting at random. As students tried to flee for the doors, they were shot and killed. The military recovered about 100 bodies from the auditorium alone, Bajwa said.

“This is not a human act,” he added. “This is a national tragedy.”

The government declared a three-day mourning period, starting Wednesday. Some of the critically wounded adults — members of the school staff — died overnight, and authorities raised the overall death toll to 148. The number of students killed remained at 132. Another 121 students and three staff members were wounded in the assault.

The body of the school principal, Tahira Qazi, was retrieved overnight from the debris. Qazi was inside her office when the militants made their way into the administration building, some 20 metres from the auditorium. She ran and locked herself into the bathroom but the attackers threw a grenade inside, through a vent, and killed her, Bajwa said.

Several funerals were also held overnight, but most of the victims were buried Wednesday.

“They finished in minutes what I had lived my whole life for, my son,” said labourer Akhtar Hussain, tears streaming down his face as he buried his 14-year-old, Fahad. He said he had worked for years in Dubai to earn a livelihood for his children.

“That innocent one is now gone in the grave, and I can’t wait to join him, I can’t live anymore,” he wailed, banging his fists against his head.

Majeed/AFP/Getty ImagesA Pakistani photographer takes photographs of a bloodied ceremony hall at an army-run school a day after an attack by Taliban militants in Peshawar on December 17, 2014.

The Taliban said the attack was revenge for a military offensive against their safe havens in the northwest, along the border with Afghanistan, which began in June. Analysts said the school siege showed that even diminished, the militant group still could inflict horrific carnage.

The attack drew swift condemnation from around the world. President Barack Obama said the “terrorists have once again showed their depravity.”

Pakistan’s teenage Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai — herself a survivor of a Taliban shooting — said she was “heartbroken” by the bloodshed.

AFP PHOTO/FAROOQ NAEEMPakistan media take footage of the bloodied floor at an army-run school a day after an attack by Taliban militants in Peshawar on December 17, 2014.

AFP PHOTO/Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan This undated handout photograph taken in an undisclosed location, released by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and received on December 17, 2014, shows Taliban fighters who allegedly stormed an army-run school in Peshawar.

Even Taliban militants in neighbouring Afghanistan decried the killing spree, calling it “un-Islamic.”

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif pledged to step up the campaign that — along with U.S. drone strikes — has targeted the militants.

“We must not forget these scenes,” Sharif said Wednesday at a top-level meeting in Peshawar. “The way they left bullet holes in the bodies of innocent kids, the way they tore apart their faces with bullets.”

Later Wednesday, Sharif’s office said he approved an order lifting the ban on the death penalty for terrorist crimes, which has been in place since 2008. Sharif lifted the ban last year but then re-imposed it when his government launched peace talks with militants.

AFP PHOTO/Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan This undated handout photograph taken in an undisclosed location, released by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and received on December 17, 2014, shows Taliban fighters who allegedly stormed an army-run school in Peshawar.

The move followed a top-level meeting between the prime minister and military and civilian law enforcement officials on the legal system’s “inadequacies in punishing terrorists.”

Earlier, Sharif said he spoke to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani late Tuesday to discuss how both countries could do more to fight terrorism. The two agreed to launch fresh operations on their respective sides of the border, Sharif said, and pledged to “clean this region from terrorism.”

Pakistan has in the past criticized Afghanistan for what it said was a failure to take action against militants on their side of the border, specifically faulting Kabul for allegedly not helping when Pakistan launched the North Waziristan operation in June. Afghanistan has also repeatedly accused Pakistan of harbouring militants in its tribal regions.

But Bajwa, the army spokesman, said that after the Peshawar massacre, Islamabad is “hoping that there will be a strong action, a corresponding action from the Afghanistan side, from across the border, in the coming days.”

In neighbouring India, which has long accused Pakistan of supporting anti-India guerrillas, schools on Wednesday observed two minutes of silence for the Peshawar victims at the urging of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who called the attack “a senseless act of unspeakable brutality.”

In an email on Wednesday, the Pakistani Taliban spokesman Mohammad Khurasani claimed the attack was justified because the Pakistani army has allegedly long been killing innocent children and families of their fighters.

He vowed more such militant attacks and told Pakistani civilians to detach themselves from all military institution.

The Pakistani Taliban also posted photographs of six Islamic fighters they said took part in the Peshawar assault. In one photo, the militants are seen wearing army fatigues, standing with a local Taliban leader in what the statement claimed one of the Pakistani tribal regions.

A Majeed/AFP/Getty ImagesPakistani health workers treat an injured student at a hospital a day after an attack by Taliban militants at an army-run school in Peshawar on December 17, 2014.

A Majeed/AFP/Getty ImagesA Pakistani soldier walks amidst the debris in an army-run school a day after an attack by Taliban militants in Peshawar on December 17, 2014.

Terrorist atrocities that kill even hundreds of civilians have become almost unremarkable, such is the weaponry and opportunity easily available to those who would do harm.

But it is rare, even in the minds of terrorists advocating “ultimate tactics,” to target children.

The only parallels in modern history are the attack by Islamist militant separatists on a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, and the “lone wolf” killing of scores of teenagers at a summer youth camp in Norway.

The 2004 Beslan siege by militants from Chechnya and Ingushetia bore close parallels to the attack in Peshawar, Pakistan.

Gunmen seized Beslan’s School Number One on Sept 1, the first day of the school year, when it was packed with pupils and parents. They held hostage more than 1,000 people — including 777 children — for three days, opening fire when their booby-traps began to explode and Russian security forces attempted to take the building.

At least 385 people were killed, including 156 children. The youngest was two years old.

On July 22, 2011, Anders Breivik bombed government buildings in Oslo and then attacked a Labour party youth camp on the Norwegian island of Utoya, as a protest against immigration, particularly by Muslims.

He was diagnosed as suffering a long-standing personality disorder.

Of his 77 victims, 69 of them on Utoya, 55 were teenagers, the youngest being 14.

The biggest single loss of children to a terrorist attack may have been suffered by the Yazidi community in northern Iraq, who have again been targeted by jihadists of Islamic State in Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) this year.

Four coordinated bombings by al-Qaeda in two Yazidi towns in Iraq, in August 2007, were estimated to have killed 796 people — the most devastating incident of the post-invasion civil war — when a large number of the dead were women and children.

The 9/11 attacks on America, generally regarded as the worst single atrocity of recent years in terms of the total killed, saw comparatively few child victims.

The main targets — the World Trade Centre towers and the Pentagon — were places of work, and it was a school day.

The eight children to lose their lives were passengers on the planes hijacked by the terrorists.

Nineteen children died in a nursery attached to a federal building in Oklahoma City, United States, bombed by two far-Right activists, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, in 1995.

They were not the killers’ direct targets, however, and in all 168 people were killed.

The nearest equivalent in the United Kingdom was the killing by Thomas Hamilton of 16 children and a teacher at Dunblane Primary School, in 1996.

But in that case the killer was motivated by personal grievance rather than politics.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan • Taliban gunmen stormed a military-run school in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Tuesday, killing at least 141 people, mostly children, before Pakistani officials declared a military operation to clear the school over.

The overwhelming majority of the victims were students at the school, which instructs grades 1-10. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the assault and rushed to Peshawar to show his support for the victims.

As darkness fell on the area, officials said they had cleared the school of militants.

A Pakistani military spokesman, Asim Bajwa, said 141 people died in the attack — 132 children and nine staff members. He declared the operation over and said the area had been cleared. An additional 121 students and three staff members were wounded.

He said seven attackers, all wearing explosives vests, all died in the assault. It was not immediately clear if the militants were all killed by the soldiers or whether they blew themselves up, he said. Bajwa described an assault that seemed designed purely to terrorize the children rather than take anyone hostage to further the militant group’s aims.

“Their sole purpose, it seems, was to kill those innocent kids. That’s what they did,” he said.

The horrific attack, claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban, a Pakistani militant group trying to overthrow the government, sent dozens of wounded flooding into local hospitals as terrified parents searched for their children.

Mohammad Sajjad, The Associated PressA Pakistani girl injured in a Taliban school attack is rushed to a hospital in Peshawar.

“My son was in uniform in the morning. He is in a casket now,” wailed one parent, Tahir Ali, as he came to the hospital to collect the body of his 14-year-old son Abdullah. “My son was my dream. My dream has been killed.”

The attack began in the morning when the gunmen entered the school and started shooting at random. Army commandos quickly arrived at the scene and started exchanging fire with the gunmen. Students wearing green school uniforms could be seen fleeing the area on Pakistani television.

Outside the school, two loud booms of unknown origin were heard coming from the scene in the early afternoon, as Pakistani troops battled with the attackers. Armored personnel carriers were deployed around the school grounds, and a Pakistani military helicopter circled overhead.

FAROOQ NAEEM/AFP/Getty ImagesPakistani army personnel make their way to the military operation after an attack by Taliban gunmen on a school in Peshawar Tuesday.

Pakistani television showed soldiers surrounding the area and pushing people back. Ambulances streamed from the area to local hospitals.

The prime minister vowed that the country would not be cowed by the violence and that the military would continue with an aggressive operation launched in June to rout militants from the North Waziristan tribal area.

“The fight will continue. No one should have any doubt about it,” Sharif said.
Bajwa said that 1,099 students and staff were registered at the school.

It is part of a network of schools run by the Pakistani military around the country. The student body is made up of both children of military personnel as well as civilians. A government official, Javed Khan, said most of the students appeared to be civilians rather than children of army staff. But analysts said the militants likely targeted the school because of its military connections.
“It’s a kind of a message that we can also kill your children,” said Pakistani analyst Zahid Hussain.

In Canada, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird condemned the Taliban attack, saying he was sickened to learn militants had gunned down students.

“Canada unequivocally condemns this heinous act,” Baird’s statement said. “There is no more cowardly act than attacking innocent children, and nothing more sinister than brutally murdering them while at school.”

One of the wounded students, Abdullah Jamal, said that he was with a group of 8th, 9th and 10th graders who were getting first-aid instructions and training with a team of Pakistani army medics when the violence began for real.

When the shooting started, Jamal, who was shot in the leg, said nobody knew what was going on in the first few seconds.

A Majeed/AFP/Getty ImagesPakistani soldiers transport rescued school children from the site the attack Tuesday.

A Majeed/AFP/Getty ImagesMen help an injured student to a hospital.

“Then I saw children falling down who were crying and screaming. I also fell down. I learned later that I have got a bullet,” he said, speaking from his hospital bed.

Another student, Amir Mateen, said they locked the door from the inside when they heard the shooting but gunmen blasted through the door anyway and opened fire.

In a phone call to reporters, Taliban spokesman Mohammed Khurasani claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the suicide bombers carried it out to avenge the killings of Taliban members at the hands of Pakistani authorities.
Peshawar has been the target of frequent militant attacks in the past but has seen a relative lull recently.

The Pakistani military launched the military operation in the nearby North Waziristan tribal area in June, vowing that it would go after all militant groups that had been operating in the region. With the launch of the operation, security officials and civilians feared retribution by militants but until Tuesday, a widespread backlash had failed to materialize.

Tuesday’s attack calls into question whether the militants have been crippled by the military or will be able to regroup. This appeared to be the worst attack in Pakistan since a 2007 suicide bombing in the port city of Karachi killed 150 people.

The violence also underscored the vulnerability of Pakistani schools, which was dramatically exposed in the attack two years ago on Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani girl shot in the head by a Taliban gunman outside her school in the Swat Valley for daring to speak up about girls’ rights. She survived, becoming a Nobel Prize laureate and global advocate for girls’ education but out of security concerns has never returned to Pakistan.

Militants have also blown up schools in the northwest.

“I am heartbroken by this senseless and cold blooded act of terror in Peshawar that is unfolding before us,” said Malala in a statement.

A Majeed/AFP/Getty ImagesA wounded Pakistani student receives treatment at a hospital after the Taliban attack.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan • Taliban gunmen stormed a military-run school in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Tuesday, killing at least 126 people before Pakistani officials declared a military operation to clear the school over.

The overwhelming majority of the victims were students at the school, which has children and teenagers in grades 1-10. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the assault and rushed to Peshawar to show his support for the victims.

As darkness fell on the area, officials said they had cleared the school of militants.

“The operation is completed,” said Bilal Ahmad Faizi, the head of the state-run rescue organization, speaking to reporters after leaving the school area.

An intelligence official said nine militants had been killed. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Earlier reports from the chaotic situation said that an estimated six to eight attackers had carried out the violence. It was not immediately clear if the militants were all killed by the soldiers or whether they blew themselves up.

FAROOQ NAEEM/AFP/Getty ImagesPakistani army personnel make their way to the military operation after an attack by Taliban gunmen on a school in Peshawar Tuesday.

Mohammad Sajjad, The Associated PressA Pakistani girl injured in a Taliban school attack is rushed to a hospital in Peshawar.

The horrific attack, carried out by a relatively small number of militants from the Tehreek-e-Taliban, a Pakistani militant group trying to overthrow the government, also sent dozens of wounded flooding into local hospitals as terrified parents searched for their children.

The attack began in the morning hours, with about half a dozen gunmen entering the school — and shooting at random, said police officer Javed Khan. Army commandos quickly arrived at the scene and started exchanging fire with the gunmen, he said. Students wearing green school uniforms could be seen fleeing the area on Pakistani television.

Outside the school, two loud booms of unknown origin were heard coming from the scene in the early afternoon, as Pakistani troops battled with the attackers. Armored personnel carriers were deployed around the school grounds, and a Pakistani military helicopter circled overhead.

“My son was in uniform in the morning. He is in a casket now,” wailed one parent, Tahir Ali, as he came to the hospital to collect the body of his 14-year-old son Abdullah. “My son was my dream. My dream has been killed.”

Details were sketchy in the face of the overwhelming tragedy. Pakistani television showed soldiers surrounding the area and pushing people back. Ambulances streamed from the area to local hospitals.

The information minister for the province, Mushtaq Ghani, most of the dead were students, children and teenagers from the school. Hospital officials said earlier that at least one teacher and a paramilitary soldier were among the dead.

A Majeed/AFP/Getty ImagesPakistani soldiers transport rescued school children from the site the attack Tuesday.

The prime minister vowed that the country would not be cowed by the violence and that the military would continue with an aggressive operation launched in June in the North Waziristan tribal area to rout militants.

“The fight will continue. No one should have any doubt about it,” Sharif said.
It was not clear how many students and staff remained still inside the facility. A student who escaped and a police official on the scene earlier said that at one point, about 200 students were being held hostage. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to media.

In Canada, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird condemned the Taliban attack, saying he was sickened to learn militants had gunned down students.

“Canada unequivocally condemns this heinous act,” Baird’s statement said. “There is no more cowardly act than attacking innocent children, and nothing more sinister than brutally murdering them while at school.”

One of the wounded students, Abdullah Jamal, said that he was with a group of 8th, 9th and 10th graders who were getting first-aid instructions and training with a team of Pakistani army medics when the violence began for real.

When the shooting started, Jamal, who was shot in the leg, said nobody knew what was going on in the first few seconds.

“Then I saw children falling down who were crying and screaming. I also fell down. I learned later that I have got a bullet,” he said, speaking from his hospital bed.

Another student, Amir Mateen, said they locked the door from the inside when they heard the shooting but gunmen blasted through the door anyway and started shooting.

The school is located on the edge of a military cantonment in Peshawar, but the bulk of the students are civilian.

A Majeed/AFP/Getty ImagesA wounded Pakistani student receives treatment at a hospital after the Taliban attack.

A Majeed/AFP/Getty ImagesMen help an injured student to a hospital.

Taliban spokesman Mohammed Khurasani claimed responsibility for the attack in a phone call to media, saying that six suicide bombers had carried out the attack in revenge for the killings of Taliban members at the hands of Pakistani authorities. But the chief minister said there were eight attackers, dressed in military uniforms. Two were killed by security forces and one blew himself up, Khattak said. The rest were still fighting.

Peshawar has been the target of frequent militant attacks in the past but has seen a relative lull recently.

The Pakistani military launched the military operation in the nearby North Waziristan tribal area in June, vowing that it would go after all militant groups that had been operating in the region. With the launch of the operation, security officials and civilians feared a backlash by militants targeted by the military but until Tuesday, a widespread backlash had failed to materialize.

Tuesday’s attack calls into question whether the militants have been crippled by the military or will be able to regroup. This appeared to be the worst attack in Pakistan since the 2008 suicide bombing in the port city of Karachi killed 150 people.

I am heartbroken by this senseless and cold blooded act of terror in Peshawar that is unfolding before us

The violence also underscored the vulnerability of Pakistani schools, which was dramatically exposed in the attack two years ago on Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani girl shot in the head by a Taliban gunman outside her school in Swat Valley for daring to speak up about girls’ rights. She survived, becoming a Nobel Prize laureate and global advocate for girls’ education but out of security concerns has never returned to Pakistan.

Militants have also blown up schools in the northwest.

“I am heartbroken by this senseless and cold blooded act of terror in Peshawar that is unfolding before us,” said Malala in a statement. “I, along with millions of others around the world, mourn these children, my brothers and sisters, but we will never be defeated.”

A Majeed/AFP/Getty ImagesParents leave with their children near the site of the attack.

A Majeed/AFP/Getty ImagesPakistani men carry an injured student to a hospital after the Taliban attack in Peshawar Tuesday.

Ijaz Khan, Peshawar’s police chief, said no one had claimed responsibility for the attack.

“Terrorists threw three Chinese-made hand grenades into the cinema hall at 3.40 p.m. when the show was in progress,” he said.

Pakistan may translate as the “land of the pure,” where Sharia is incorporated into everyday law, alcohol is banned and most women do not leave the house with their faces uncovered, but Peshawar’s last pornographic cinema had struggled on despite a number of threats.

EPAPakistani security officials guard the scene of a bomb blast that targeted a Shama cinema in Peshawa

It shows popular Bollywood hits made in Lahore, Pakistan’s film capital. One screen was reserved for pornographic films, or “sexy movies” as a moustached usher had told The Daily Telegraph during a recent visit to the cinema.

A show began with trailers showing women rolling around on unmade beds to pop songs.

Then came the main feature, drawing cheers from the audience. Titled Friendship, it described a family’s attempt to marry off a son despite an affair, told with frequent sexual scenes.

A Majeed/AFP/Getty ImagesPakistani security officials and volunteers gather outside the Shama cinema after a grenade attack in Peshawar on Feb. 11, 2014.

“This is the first time I came to see a film like this,” said Ayeen, a soldier in his early 20s on his day off.

“It is only because there was no good Pashto movie on at this time in the afternoon.”

The manager of the Shama cinema declined to be interviewed, but a member of staff had explained that American and British pornography was often shown after being dubbed into Pashto.

EPAA man who was injured in a bomb blast that targeted a Shama cinema, receives medical treatment at local hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, Feb. 11, 2014.

He said two other cinemas had been forced to stop showing pornography after pressure from extremists.

The city lies on the main route from Pakistan through the Khyber Pass to Afghanistan, and militants roam the surrounding mountainous tribal areas.

Leaflets distributed to mobile phone shops last year ordered an end to sales of ringtones and video clips. Peshawar once had a thriving film industry, known as Pollywood, but now its cinemas show pictures largely made in Lahore.

EPA/ARSHAD ARBAB epa04068968 A relative of a victim of a bomb blast attack that targeted a cinema, mourns after the body was taken to a hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, 11 February 2014. At least 11 people were killed and 25 injured on 11 February in a bombing at a cinema in Pakistanís troubled north-western city of Peshawar, media reports said. More than 100 people were watching a movie in the Shama film theatre at the time of the attack. EPA/BILAWAL ARBAB ORG XMIT: PSH08

Even its mainstream films have a reputation for vulgarity, featuring young women in tight-fitting clothes dancing with older male heroes.

Only a handful of cinemas remain. Two were destroyed during protests in 2012 against trailers for a film about the life of the Prophet Mohammed.

Critics of the cinema’s pornography claimed it was sensationalism used to attract visitors.

Jehan Shah, a film director and cultural expert, said Pashto-language cinema had never reflected the norms or culture of society in the north-west of Pakistan. “Maybe the state allowed it as a safety valve, a way to keep the masses busy with something that titillates them,” he said.

A customer at the cinema, who declined to give his name, previously said he saw no contradiction in screening pornography in the north-west of Pakistan, a region known for its conservative values. “These are not Pashtun women,” he said. “These are Punjabi.”

EPAPakistani security officials inspect the scene of a bomb blast that targeted a cinema in Peshawar, Pakistan, Feb. 11.

EPAPeople who were injured in a bomb blast that targeted a Shama cinema, are brought to a hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, Feb.11, 2014.

EPAA man who was injured in a bomb blast that targeted a Shama cinema, is brought to a hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, Feb. 11, 2014.

PESHAWAR — Angry Pakistani Christians on Monday denounced the deadliest attack ever in this country against members of their faith as the death toll from the church bombings the day before climbed to 85.

A pair of suicide bombers blew themselves up amid hundreds of worshippers outside a historic church in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday.

The attack on the All Saints Church in the city of Peshawar, which also wounded over 140 people, occurred as worshippers were leaving after service to get a free meal of rice offered on the front lawn.

A wing of the Pakistani Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the bombings, saying they would continue to target non-Muslims until the U.S. stops drone attacks in the remote tribal region of Pakistan.

Mohammad Sajjad / AP PhotoPakistani Christians attend the funeral of their family member at a local grave yard in Peshawar, Pakistan, Monday, Sept. 23, 2013.

The bombings raised new questions about the Pakistani government’s push to strike a peace deal with the militants to end a decade-long insurgency that has killed thousands of people.

“What dialogue are we talking about? Peace with those who are killing innocent people,” asked the head of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, Paul Bhatti, whose brother, a federal minister, was gunned down by an Islamic extremist in 2011.

Related

The death toll on Monday climbed to 85, after seven more of the wounded in Peshawar died overnight and Monday, according to the commissioner of Peshawar, Sahibzada Anees.

“Our state and our intelligence agencies are so weak that anybody can kill anyone anytime. It is a shame,” said Bhatti.

Angry Christians blocked roads around the country to protest the bombings. On one of the main roads coming into the capital of Islamabad, demonstrators burned tires and demanded government protection for the members of the Christian minority.

“Our people have been killed … Nobody seems to bother about us. No one apprehended the killers,” said Aqeel Masih, one of the protesters. He added that he fears Pakistanis will simply forget about the bloodshed in a few days.

We want an end to extremism, terrorism and barbarianism in Pakistan

In the southern port city of Karachi, a few hundred demonstrators chanted “Stop killing Christians!” and demanded that those who attacked their community be held accountable.

“We want an end to extremism, terrorism and barbarianism in Pakistan,” said Bashir John, a priest.

Missionary schools around the country would be closed for three days, said Christian leader Nasir Gill. He said 68 bodies of Peshawar victims were buried Sunday and the rest would be buried today.

Churches and other places important to the Christian community in Peshawar have been given extra security, said police official Noor Khan.

But this has not been sufficient to appease angry Christians in Pakistan, who want the government to take even stronger steps to protect them.

Many churches, as well as mosques and other religious institutions, already receive some type of police protection although many Christians say that is too little. A police officer who was supposed to be protecting the church where the suicide bombers attacked was killed.

Mohammad Sajjad / AP PhotoPakistani Christians attend the funeral of their family members at a local grave yard in Peshawar, Pakistan, Monday, Sept. 23, 2013.

Christians are a minority in Pakistan, where roughly 96 per cent of the country’s 180 million people is Muslim. The rest belong to other religions, including Christianity. Christians have often been attacked by Sunni Muslim militants, who view them as enemies of Islam because of their faith.

While many Pakistanis condemned the Sunday bombings, Christians have often faced discrimination across the country. They often find it difficult to get access to education or better jobs and are known for having to contend with menial labour such as garbage collecting or street cleaning.

Also Monday, a bomb exploded near a police patrol in southwestern Baluchistan province, killing four people, including three policemen, said police officer Abdullah Khan. The bombing occurred in Pashin district, some 70 kilometres (45 miles) north of the provincial capital, Quetta, said Khan.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. Baluchistan is home to both Islamic militants and nationalists who have been fighting an insurgency against the government for decades for a greater share of the province’s natural resources.

KABU – Two American officers were shot dead at close range inside Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry on Saturday, a U.S. official said, as rage gripped the country for a fifth day over the burning of the Muslim holy book at a NATO base.

NATO recalled all staff working at ministries in the Afghan capital Kabul following the attack, with its top commander in Afghanistan calling the killer a “coward”.

“For obvious force protection reasons, I have also taken immediate measures to recall all other ISAF personnel working in ministries in and around Kabul,” said General John Allen, adding that the attacker’s actions “will not go unanswered”.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the shootings, which it said were in retaliation for the desecration of copies of the Koran by foreign troops at NATO’s Bagram air base. Afghan security sources said the two dead were a U.S. colonel and major with NATO forces.

U.S. President Barack Obama has sent a letter to his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai, apologising for what Washington says was the unintentional burning of the Korans, after Afghan labourers found charred copies while collecting rubbish.

The Koran burnings ignited anti-Western fury. Thousands have taken to the streets and at least 27 people have been killed in the protests. Two American soldiers were shot dead on Thursday by an Afghan national army soldier who joined the rallies.

HIGH SECURITY CLEARANCE

An Afghan security source said the American officers killed on Saturday had been found dead with gunshot wounds deep inside the heavily fortified Interior Ministry.

“There is CCTV there and special locks. The killer would have had to have the highest security (clearance) to get to the room where they were killed,” the source told Reuters.

NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed two of its servicemen had been killed in Kabul but declined to say if the shooter was a member of the Afghan security forces.

If the shootings are linked to Afghan forces, new questions will arise about Taliban infiltration as well as their ability to secure Afghanistan once NATO combat forces withdraw in 2014.

NATO is supposed to be moving away from a combat role to an advise-and-assist mission as early as next year. That will require NATO to place more staff in ministries.

“The fact that NATO is recalling staff from ministries suggests they are worried about a deep malaise in the Afghan security forces, that they expect more of these attacks,” said Kamran Bokhari at STRATFOR global intelligence firm.

The Koran burnings have underscored the deep cultural mistrust between Afghans and the foreign troops who invaded a decade ago to oust the Taliban from power.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement four high-ranking Americans had been killed. The Islamist group often exaggerate and inflate claims of casualties.

“The attack came from the mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate in revenge for the American soldiers’ repeated desecration of our religion, especially the latest intentional incident in the Bagram airfield which they burnt Korans,” he added, using another name the group call themselves.

DESECRATION

An Afghan security source said the shooting of the two Americans in the Interior Ministry could be connected to the burning of the Korans.

Muslims consider the Koran to be the literal word of God and treat each copy with deep reverence. Desecration is considered one of the worst forms of blasphemy.

Hundreds of people tried to overrun a compound in the northern Kunduz province housing workers from the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, but were held back by police, Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said.

In April last year protesters angry over the burning of Korans by an obscure pastor in the United States stormed a UN compound in northern Balkh province, killing seven people.

The protests could dent plans for a strategic pact that Washington is considering with Kabul which would allow a sharply reduced number of Western troops to stay in the country well beyond their combat exit deadline.

There have been several instances of Afghan troops and forces turning on NATO troops. NATO servicemen and staff live and work primarily at their bases, but also frequent the barricaded Afghan ministries dotted around Kabul on official business.

General Allen said an investigation had been launched. A U.S. official described the pullout of staff from Afghan ministries as a precaution.

KABUL — Twelve people were killed on Friday in the bloodiest day yet in protests that have raged across Afghanistan over the desecration of copies of the Muslim holy book at a NATO military base with riot police and soldiers on high alert braced for more violence.

The burning of the Korans at the Bagram compound earlier this week has deepened public mistrust of NATO forces struggling to stabilize Afghanistan before foreign combat troops withdraw in 2014.

Hundreds of Afghans marched toward the palace of Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul, while on the other side of the capital protesters hoisted the white flag of the Taliban.

Chanting “Death to America!” and “Long live Islam!,” protesters also threw rocks at police in Kabul, while Afghan army helicopters circled above.

REUTERS/AnwarullahSmoke rises from burning supply trucks for NATO forces during a protest in Khost Province February 24, 2012. Twelve people were killed on Friday in the bloodiest day yet in protests that have raged across Afghanistan over the desecration of copies of the Muslim holy book at a NATO military base with riot police and soldiers on high alert braced for more violence.

Friday is a holy day and the official weekly holiday in Afghanistan and mosques in the capital drew large crowds, with police in pick-up trucks posted on nearby streets.

Armed protesters took refuge in shops in the eastern part of the city, where they killed one demonstrator, said police at the scene. In another Kabul rally, police said they were unsure who fired the shots that killed a second protester.

Seven more protesters were killed in the western province of Herat, two more in eastern Khost province and one in the relatively peaceful northern Baghlan province, health and local officials said. In Herat, around 500 men charged at the U.S. consulate.

U.S. President Barack Obama had sent a letter to Karzai apologizing for the unintentional burning of the Korans at NATO’s main Bagram air base, north of Kabul, after Afghan laborers found charred copies while collecting rubbish.

REUTERS/Omar SobhaniAfghan protesters run during clashes with the police in Kabul February 24, 2012. Twelve people were killed on Friday in the bloodiest day yet in protests that have raged across Afghanistan over the desecration of copies of the Muslim holy book at a NATO military base with riot police and soldiers on high alert braced for more violence.

Muslims consider the Koran to be the literal word of God and treat each copy with deep reverence. Desecration is considered one of the worst forms of blasphemy.

Afghanistan wants NATO to put those responsible on public trial.

In neighbouring U.S. ally Pakistan, about 400 members of a hardline Islamist group staged protests. “If you burn the Koran, we will burn you,” they shouted.

A. Majeed/AFP/Getty ImagesActivists of Pakistani political and Islamic party Jammat-e-Islami (JI), hold up an effigy of the US President Barack Obama as they shou anti-US slogans during a protest in Peshawar on February 24, 2012, over the burning of the Koran at a US-run military base in Afghanistan.

To Afghanistan’s west, Iranian cleric Ahmad Khatami said the U.S. had purposely burned the Korans. “These apologies are fake. The world should know that America is against Islam,” he said in a speech broadcast live on state radio.

“It [the Koran burning] was not a mistake. It was an intentional move, done on purpose.”

Most Westerners have been confined to their heavily fortified compounds, including at the sprawling U.S. embassy complex and other diplomatic missions, as protests that have killed a total of 23 people, including two U.S. soldiers, rolled into their fourth day. The embassy, in a message on the microblogging site Twitter, urged U.S. citizens to “please be safe out there” and expanded movement restrictions to relatively peaceful northern provinces, where large demonstrations also occurred Thursday, including the attempted storming of a Norwegian military base.

Germany, which has the third-largest foreign presence in the NATO-led war, pulled out several weeks early of a small base in the northern Takhar province Friday over security concerns, a defense ministry spokesman said.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/if-you-burn-the-koran-we-will-burn-you-protests-spread-to-pakistan-as-12-die-in-afghanistan/feed/6stdPakistani tribesmen shout slogans while burning the U.S. flag during an anti-U.S. rally in Landikotal, northwest Pakistan February 24, 2012. About 200 protesters gathered to march on the streets of Landikotal to condemn the burning of copies of the Koran at NATO's main base in Afghanistan on Tuesday.Smoke rises from burning supply trucks for NATO forces during a protest in Khost Province February 24, 2012. Twelve people were killed on Friday in the bloodiest day yet in protests that have raged across Afghanistan over the desecration of copies of the Muslim holy book at a NATO military base with riot police and soldiers on high alert braced for more violence.Afghan protesters run during clashes with the police in Kabul February 24, 2012. Twelve people were killed on Friday in the bloodiest day yet in protests that have raged across Afghanistan over the desecration of copies of the Muslim holy book at a NATO military base with riot police and soldiers on high alert braced for more violence.Activists of Pakistani political and Islamic party Jammat-e-Islami (JI), hold up an effigy of the US President Barack Obama as they shou anti-US slogans during a protest in Peshawar on February 24, 2012, over the burning of the Koran at a US-run military base in Afghanistan.Koran-burning protests spread to Pakistan as protesters shot dead in Afghanistanhttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/koran-burning-protests-spread-to-pakistan-as-protesters-shot-dead-in-afghanistan
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By Nasir Jaffry

ISLAMABAD — Hundreds of Pakistani activists took to the streets on Friday, chanting death to America, demanding that their leaders resign and setting fire to a U.S. flag over the burning of Korans in Afghanistan.

The demonstrations expanded as two protesters were shot dead in separate rallies in Kabul on Friday at a NATO base, police told Reuters at the scene. Armed protesters killed one man in the east of the city, police said, while it was unclear who fired the shots that killed the second man. Reports say as many as nine more people may have been killed in the Afghan riots.

A. Majeed/AFP/Getty ImagesActivists of Pakistani political and Islamic party Jammat-e-Islami (JI), hold up an effigy of the US President Barack Obama as they shou anti-US slogans during a protest in Peshawar on February 24, 2012, over the burning of the Koran at a US-run military base in Afghanistan.

In Pakistan, up to 300 people blocked the main Grand Trunk road in the northwestern city of Peshawar, stomped on and set fire to the US flag, and kicked the dummy representing America and beat it with sticks while it was burning.

“The ugly face of America has been revealed with the desecration of holy Koran,” a banner read.

The foreign ministry strongly condemned the burning, stressing that “utterly irresponsible and reprehensible things” do not happen again.

“On behalf of the government and the people of Pakistan, we condemn in strongest possible terms the desecration of Holy Koran” in Afghanistan,” spokesman Abdul Basit told reporters.

In the capital Islamabad, the general secretary of the pro-Taliban Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) told the crowd that the Islamic world should review its relations with the United States.

“We will not allow Americans to ridicule our religion and our holy Koran,” Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri told the crowd, asking the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to convene a special session to condemn the incident.

In Karachi, hundreds of activists of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, blacklisted as a terror organisation for associations with Al-Qaeda, chanted “Death to America.”

“There is just one remedy for America — jihad and only jihad,” the crowd shouted. “Death to America, death to America’s friends,” echoed slogans.

The demonstrators were carrying flags with black and white stripes and inscribed with Koranic verses.

They also held up banners, one of which said: “The defeated Americans are bound to bite dust in their war against Allah and His Book.”

A. Majeed/AFP/Getty ImagesActivists of Pakistani political and Islamic party Jammat-e-Islami (JI), shou anti-US slogans during a protest in Peshawar on February 24, 2012, over the burning of the Koran at a US-run military base in Afghanistan.

President Barack Obama was Thursday forced to apologise for the incident, which the Afghan presidency blamed on a U.S. officer at the Bagram airbase.

“We don’t accept Obama’s apology. The Muslims don’t accept his apology, as it is nothing but a farce,” said Naveed Qamar, the head of JuD in Karachi. “The Americans are deliberately provoking us through shameless sins,” he added.

“It is now up to our rulers whether they continue to be slaves of America or become slaves of our beloved prophet.”

In Afghanistan, at least 19 people, including two American soldiers, have been killed in three days of furious anti-U.S. protests.

Pakistan’s relationship with the United States drastically deteriorated last year over the covert American raid that killed Osama bin Laden and U.S. air strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers along the Afghan border.

With files from Reuters

A. Majeed/AFP/Getty ImagesActivists of Pakistani political and Islamic party Jammat-e-Islami (JI), shout anti-US slogans during a protest in Peshawar on February 24, 2012

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/koran-burning-protests-spread-to-pakistan-as-protesters-shot-dead-in-afghanistan/feed/7stdActivists of Pakistani political and Islamic party Jammat-e-Islami (JI), set fire to an effigy of the US President Barack Obama during a protest in Peshawar on February 24, 2012, over the burning of the Koran at a US-run military base in Afghanistan.Activists of Pakistani political and Islamic party Jammat-e-Islami (JI), hold up an effigy of the US President Barack Obama as they shou anti-US slogans during a protest in Peshawar on February 24, 2012, over the burning of the Koran at a US-run military base in Afghanistan.Activists of Pakistani political and Islamic party Jammat-e-Islami (JI), shou anti-US slogans during a protest in Peshawar on February 24, 2012, over the burning of the Koran at a US-run military base in Afghanistan. Activists of Pakistani political and Islamic party Jammat-e-Islami (JI), shout anti-US slogans during a protest in Peshawar on February 24, 2012NATO attack threatens Pakistan’s support in war on militants: foreign ministerhttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/nato-attack-threatens-pakistans-support-in-war-on-militants-foreign-minister
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By Chris Allbritton and Zeeshan Haider

Pakistan, enraged by a NATO cross-border attack that killed 24 soldiers, could end support for the U.S.-led war on militancy if its sovereignty is violated again, the foreign minister said, warning that “enough is enough.”

The South Asian nation has already shown its anger over the weekend strike by pulling out of an international conference in Germany next week on Afghanistan, depriving the talks of a central player in efforts to bring peace to its neighbor.

“Enough is enough. The government will not tolerate any incident of spilling even a single drop of any civilian or soldier’s blood,” The News newspaper on Thursday quoted Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar as telling a Senate committee on foreign affairs.

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“Pakistan’s role in the war on terror must not be overlooked,” Khar said, suggesting Pakistan could end its support for the U.S. war on militancy. Despite opposition at home, Islamabad backed Washington after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

The U.S. Embassy released a video statement on YouTube by Ambassador Cameron Munter in which he expressed regret for the attack.

“I would like to extend my most sincere condolences to the people and government of Pakistan, and especially to Pakistan’s men and women in uniform, for the tragic incident that took place on November 26 in Mohmand Agency,” he said, standing in front of U.S. and Pakistani flags.

“We regret it very much,” he added in Urdu.

He said the United States took the attack “very seriously” and pledged a “a full, in-depth investigation.”

“Pakistan and the U.S. have stood together for over 60 years,” he said. “We have weathered previous crises together. I’m certain we will weather this one too, and emerge, together, as stronger partners.”

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the investigation was still in its early stages and he made clear the administration thought it would be premature to consider whether or not to apologize to Pakistan until the probe is complete.

“We need to find the results of this investigation,” he told reporters in Washington. “We have offered our condolences. … I’m not going to prejudge actions we might take, what we might say, in the future.”

He confirmed there had been a suggestion from the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan for a taped message of condolences, presumably by President Barack Obama, but a decision was made to offer condolences instead on the president’s behalf.

But events seemed to be working against lowering tensions. Two Pakistani men were killed in Afghanistan early on Thursday and Pakistani border guards said NATO may have been responsible.

The officials said the two men, who were from the town of Chagai in the Pakistani province of Baluchistan, were gathering wood 30 km inside Afghanistan. They said NATO helicopters fired on their vehicle.

“I can confirm that the bodies of two residents of Chagai have arrived from Afghanistan,” said Chagai Assistant Commissioner Tufail Baloch. “But I do not have any information on how they were killed. It happened on Afghan soil so we don’t have many details yet.”

NATO officials had no immediate comment.

NATO helicopters and fighter jets attacked two military border posts in northwest Pakistan on Saturday in the worst incident of its kind since 2001.

The top U.S. military officer denied allegations by a senior Pakistani army official that the NATO attack was a deliberate act of aggression.

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Reuters in an interview,”The one thing I will say publicly and categorically is that this was not a deliberate attack.

The incident has given the army, which has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its history and sets security and foreign policy, some breathing room after facing strong criticism from both the Pakistani public and the United States after Osama bin Laden was killed in a secret raid by U.S. special forces in May.

The al Qaeda leader had apparently been living in a Pakistani garrison town for years.

Pakistanis criticized the military for failing to protect their sovereignty and U.S. officials wondered whether some members of military intelligence had sheltered him. Pakistan’s government and military said they had no idea bin Laden was in the country.

Protests have taken place in several cities every day since the NATO strike along the poorly defined border, where militants often plan and stage attacks.

Pakistan military sources said Islamabad had canceled a visit by a 15-member delegation, led by the director general of the Joint Staff, Lieutenant-General Mohammad Asif, to the United States that was to have taken place this week.

In an apparently unrelated attack, a bomb blew out a wall of a government official’s office in Peshawar, the last big city on the route to Afghanistan, early on Thursday, police said. There were no reports of casualties.

The United States has long wanted Pakistan, whose military and economy depend heavily on billions of dollars in American aid, to crack down on militant groups that cross its unruly border to attack Western forces in Afghanistan.

More recently, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asked Pakistan to bring all militant groups to the negotiating table in order to stabilize Afghanistan.

The NATO attack makes Pakistani cooperation less likely.

NATO hopes an investigation it promised will defuse the crisis and that confidence-building measures can repair ties.

Critics say Pakistan has created a deadly regional mess by supporting militants like the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network to act as proxies in Afghanistan and other groups to fight Indian forces in the disputed Kashmir region.

Pakistan says it has paid the highest price in the war on militancy. Thousands of soldiers and police have been killed.

“The sacrifices rendered by Pakistan in the war on terror are more than any other country,” Khar was quoted as saying. “But that does not mean we will compromise on our sovereignty.”

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/nato-attack-threatens-pakistans-support-in-war-on-militants-foreign-minister/feed/5stdA supporter of religious political party Sunni Tehreek set ablaze the images of U.S. President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a demonstration in Karachi. Pakistan, enraged by a NATO cross-border air attack that killed 24 soldiers, could withdraw its support for the U.S.-led war on militancy if its sovereignty is violated again, the foreign minister suggested in comments published on Thursday.Pakistani PM promises no more ‘business as usual’ with U.S. in wake of NATO attackhttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/pakistani-pm-promises-no-more-business-as-usual-with-u-s-in-wake-of-nato-attack
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By Qasim Nauman and Chris Allbritton

Pakistan’s prime minister ruled out “business as usual” with the United States on Monday after a NATO attack killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and the army threatened to curtail cooperation over the war in Afghanistan.

Saturday’s incident on Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan has complicated U.S. attempts to ease a crisis in relations with Islamabad and stabilize the region before foreign combat troops leave Afghanistan.

“Business as usual will not be there,” Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani told CNN when asked if ties with the United States would continue. “We have to have something bigger so as to satisfy my nation.”

Related

While the NATO strike has shifted attention from what critics say is Islamabad’s failure to go after militants, Gilani’s comments reflect the fury of Pakistan’s government and military – and the pressure they face from their own people.

“You cannot win any war without the support of the masses,” Gilani said. “We need the people with us.”

The relationship, he said, would continue only if based on “mutual respect and mutual interest.” Asked if Pakistan was receiving that respect, Gilani replied: “At the moment, not.”

Gilani’s comments cap a day of growing pressure from the Pakistani military, which threatened to reduce cooperation on peace efforts in Afghanistan.

“This could have serious consequences in the level and extent of our cooperation,” military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told Reuters.

Pakistan has a long history of ties to militant groups in Afghanistan so it is uniquely positioned to help bring about a peace settlement, a top foreign policy and security goal for the Obama administration.

Washington believes Islamabad can play a critical role in efforts to pacify Afghanistan before all NATO combat troops pull out in 2014 and it cannot afford to alienate its ally.

Pakistan shut down NATO supply routes into Afghanistan in retaliation for the weekend shooting incident, the worst of its kind since Islamabad allied itself with Washington in 2001.

“We have been here before. But this time it’s much more serious,” said Farzana Sheikh, associate fellow of the Asia program at Chatham House in London.

“The government has taken a very stern view. It’s not quite clear at this stage what more Pakistani authorities can do, apart from suspending supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan.”

The weekend attack was the latest perceived provocation by the United States, which infuriated and embarrassed Pakistan’s powerful military in May with a unilateral special forces raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

CHINA AND RUSSIA VOICE CONCERN

Adding a new element to tensions and giving a diplomatic boost to Islamabad, China said it was “deeply shocked” by the incident and expressed “strong concern for the victims and profound condolences for Pakistan.”

Russia, seeking warmer relations with Pakistan as worry grows over the NATO troop pullout in Afghanistan, said it was “unacceptable” to violate the sovereignty of states even when hunting “terrorists.”

U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Pakistan was rethinking whether to attend next week’s conference on Afghanistan in Bonn, Germany, although Washington had not yet received any definitive decision from the Pakistanis.

“We understand that they are reconsidering,” Toner told reporters. “We hope that they do in fact attend this conference because this is a conference about … building a more stable and prosperous and peaceful Afghanistan and so that is very much in the interests of Pakistan.”

On Saturday, NATO helicopters and fighter jets attacked two military outposts in northwest Pakistan, killing the 24 soldiers and wounding 13, the army said.

NATO described the killings as a “tragic, unintended incident.” U.S. officials say a NATO investigation and a separate American one will seek to determine what happened.

“It is very much in America’s national security interest to maintain a cooperative relationship with Pakistan because we have shared interests in the fight against terrorism, and so we will continue to work on that relationship,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.

A Western official and an Afghan security official who requested anonymity said NATO troops were responding to fire from across the border at the time of the incident.

Pakistan’s military denied NATO forces had come under fire before launching the attack, saying the strike was unprovoked and reserving the right to retaliate.

Abbas, the military spokesman, said the attack lasted two hours despite warnings from Pakistani border posts.

“They were contacted through the local hotline and also there had been contacts through the director-general of military operations. But despite that, this continued,” he said.

After a string of deadly incidents in the largely lawless and confusing border region, NATO and Pakistan set up the hotline that should allow them to communicate in case of confusion over targets and avoid “friendly fire.”

Both the Western and Pakistani explanations are possibly correct: that a retaliatory attack by NATO troops took a tragic, mistaken turn in harsh terrain where differentiating friend from foe can be difficult.

An Afghan Taliban commander, Mullah Samiullah Rahmani, said the group had not been engaged in any fighting with NATO or Afghan forces in the area when the incident took place. But he added that Taliban fighters control several Afghan villages near the border with Pakistan.

A similar cross-border incident on September 30, 2010, which killed two Pakistani service personnel, led to the closure of one of NATO’s supply routes through Pakistan for 10 days.

Fayaz Aziz / ReutersLawyers burn an effigy of U.S. President Barack Obama in protest against a NATO cross-border attack during a protest in Peshawar November 28, 2011.

OBAMA EFFIGY BURNED

The main Pakistani association that delivers fuel to NATO forces in Afghanistan said it would not resume supplies soon in protest against the NATO strike.

In the Mohmand region, where the attack took place, hundreds of angry tribesmen yelled “Death to America.” About 200 lawyers protested in Peshawar city, some burning an effigy of U.S. President Barack Obama.

Pakistani editorials were strident. “We have to send a clear and unequivocal message to NATO and America that our patience has run out. If even a single bullet of foreign forces crosses into our border, then two fires will be shot in retaliation,” said one mass-circulation Urdu language paper.

Pakistan joined the U.S.-led war on militancy launched after al Qaeda’s attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, and has won billions of dollars in aid in return.

But the unstable, nuclear-armed country has often been described as an unreliable ally and the United States has resorted to controversial drone aircraft strikes against militants on Pakistani territory to pursue its aims.

U.S. Senator John McCain, a leading voice of Republicans on military issues, echoed frustration in Washington when he said the loss of life was “tragic” but that Pakistani intelligence still supported militants fueling violence in Afghanistan.

“Certain facts in Pakistan continue to complicate significantly the ability of coalition and Afghan forces to succeed in Afghanistan,” he said.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/pakistani-pm-promises-no-more-business-as-usual-with-u-s-in-wake-of-nato-attack/feed/2stdSupporters of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz burn a U.S. flag during a protest in Multan on November 28, 2011, against a NATO strike on Pakistan troops.nato620Lawyers burn an effigy of U.S. President Barack Obama in protest against a NATO cross-border attack during a protest in Peshawar November 28, 2011.Nine Pakistani troops killed by militants: officialshttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/nine-pakistani-troops-killed-by-militants-officials
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by Lehaz Ali

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Militants ambushed Pakistani troops on Monday, killing nine soldiers in gunbattles and underscoring the gravity of the insurgent threat on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Peshawar.

“It was an ambush in the afternoon. It continued for two to three hours, and there have been casualties in the ambush. There have been killings of the terrorists as well,” military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told AFP.

Other military and political officials in the northwest said nine troops from the Frontier Corps paramilitary were killed and three others wounded in the attack not far from Peshawar in the tribal district of Khyber, while at least 14 militants were killed.

Ambushes on such a deadly scale are rare, underscoring the pernicious Taliban-led insurgency plaguing the tribal areas and the challenges facing Pakistan in containing the unrest while under US pressure to take tougher action.

Peshawar is the main city in northwest Pakistan and a gateway to the semi-autonomous tribal areas on the Afghan border that Washington calls a haven for militants fighting in Afghanistan and a global headquarters of Al-Qaeda.

Khyber straddles the main land route for NATO supplies shipped to Pakistan’s port city of Karachi and driven across the border into Afghanistan.

“The militants attacked FC troops during a search operation. They came under attack from a small hill where militants were hiding,” the political agent of Khyber, Rehan Gul Khattak, told AFP.

At least 14 militants were killed in retaliatory fire in the Akakhel area of Bara district, the officials said.

“Fourteen militants have been killed and nine soldiers embraced martyrdom during an encounter in Akakhel,” a military spokesman told AFP.

The United States wants Pakistan to do more to wipe out militant havens and to open an offensive in North Waziristan, considered the premier insurgent bastion in the tribal belt and where leaders in the Al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network are based.

It says eliminating militant sanctuaries in Pakistan’s tribal belt are vital to ending the 10-year war in Afghanistan and defeating Al-Qaeda.

But Pakistan has refused to open a new military front, arguing its troops are too overstretched, leaving American options largely limited to US drone strikes, of which more than 50 have been reported so far this year.

Nearly 4,700 people have been killed across Pakistan in attacks blamed on Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants based in the northwestern tribal belt since government troops stormed a radical mosque in Islamabad in 2007.

Around 3,000 Pakistani soldiers have also lost their lives in attacks since 2001 when the country joined the war on terror.

On Monday, the UN refugee agency confirmed that 4,000 tribesmen who fled a Pakistani military operation in Mohmand, another of the seven districts in the tribal belt, had returned home, with the military saying calm had been restored.

The Nahqi camp, where the people had been staying, closed last week and all the families left voluntarily, UNHCR official Tim Irwin told AFP.

It had been established after conflict broke out in the tribal district of Mohmand, which lies on the Afghan border, in January, he said.

But although the military has claimed victory in a number of battles against militants, attacks have continued across the country.

UNHCR says more than 350,000 people displaced by conflict in the tribal belt are still living in host communities in the northwest.